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Cyclopedia of Literary Places

The Absentee

The Absentee

Author: Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849)

First published: 1812

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Social realism

Time of plot: Early nineteenth century

Maria Edgeworth's novel chronicles the near dissolution of the Clonbrony family, whose members are caught up in the Anglo-Irish social class system that the family represents and who live lavishly in London. Ultimately, the family finds salvation by returning to Ireland. Intent on realism, Maria Edgeworth spares nothing in describing the corruption inherent in the Anglo-Irish social system and calls for the abandonment of absenteeism and the return to duty of residential landlords.

*London. Capital of Great Britain and leading city of the British Isles, in which the Anglo-Irish absentee landlord Lord Clonbrony and his ruthless, social-climbing wife maintain an extravagant lifestyle. The Absentee is set in a historical period when the Irish social order was split over the question of union with Britain. Although the class of people known as “Anglo-Irish”—wealthy Protestant landowners—had dominated Ireland for generations, many of them, like Edgeworth's fictional Clonbronys, spend their lives in England and on the European continent, living in luxury, while reaping profits from their Irish agricultural properties. Many of them never even set foot in Ireland, leaving management of their lands in the hands of exploitative overseers.

Ireland's absentee landlord system, coupled with the emerging greedy Irish middle-class, oppressed the disenfranchised, indigent Irish peasants. In London, the Clonbrony family, especially Lady Clonbrony, attempts to buy its way into high society. Going to great lengths to deny her Irish roots, Lady Clonbrony denigrates her former country and attempts to marry off her son, Lord Colambre, to a local heiress. London here represents decay, and because of the absentee landlord system, the Clonbrony family sinks into decline.

*Ireland. Roman Catholic country ruled by Britain. The hero of Edgeworth's novel, Lord Colambre, finds hope and salvation for the Clonbrony family in Ireland. Young and intelligent, he travels incognito to Ireland to investigate his family's Irish estates and learn whether his mother's negative ideas about Ireland are justified. Traveling anonymously to each of his father's estates, he comes to know the truth. Known as Evans, on the first of his father's estates, he finds that his father has just fired the likable and honest estate agent Burke for not extorting sufficient income from the estate's tenants. The Brothers Garraghty manage the second estate, which Lord Colambre finds in complete disorder: Its church is falling down, its roads are almost impassable, and its tenants are terribly abused. Although the brothers almost openly embezzle estate funds, Lord Clonbrony fails to take action against them because they still send him enough money to support his sumptuous lifestyle in London. Again, Edgeworth emphasizes the decay of the Anglo-Irish social order.

Lord Colambre also finds a more peaceful existence in Ireland, where he comes to realize the true quality of the people his mother so severely criticizes. Eventually, he begins to view Ireland as a haven. Upon his return to London, he promises to pay off the family debts himself on the conditions that the Garraghty brothers are let go and his family ceases being absentee landowners. They must, he declares, return to Ireland and take up their ancestral responsibility of caring for their estates. Eventually, his family finds salvation by returning to Ireland—precisely what Edgeworth urges as the political solution to the decaying Anglo-Irish social order.

—M. Casey Diana

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
"The Absentee." Cyclopedia of Literary Places,Salem Press, 2015. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=CLP_0009.
APA 7th
The Absentee. Cyclopedia of Literary Places,Salem Press, 2015. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=CLP_0009.
CMOS 17th
"The Absentee." Cyclopedia of Literary Places,Salem Press, 2015. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=CLP_0009.